April 2021

Some stress can be helpful. Too much stress may make you ill and many will be affected differently. April is Stress Awareness Month and due to the anxiety and uncertainty of 2020, it’s arguable one the most important ones since its inception 20 years ago. We all have different ways of managing it but the big question is – can coaching help reduce stress? Read on to find out.

Although we would probably be hard-pressed to find a person who doesn’t get stressed out from time to time, each of us likely has something (or someone!) that pushes our buttons and puts us into tension overload. Additionally, the restrictions put in place to tackle the pandemic have had a significant impact on our daily lives

A study conducted by The Stress Management Society and Huawei AppGalley identified that 65% of people in the UK have felt more stressed since the Covid-19 restrictions began in March 2020. Three key causes for concern are feelings of disconnection, uncertainty, and a worrying loss of control.

The survey results show that many of the stressors are examples of ‘what if…?’ thinking; things that are worst-case scenarios, are out of our control or have not happened yet. The main conclusion of this survey was that the COVD-19 restrictions left many feeling disempowered.

Most coaches will say that their mission is to empower others so it seems that there is an important overlap here. Coaching helps individuals find the answer within themselves, it helps to bridge the gap between where they currently are to where they would like to be.

A coach achieves this by, supporting and encouraging you to fulfil your potential, achieve your goals and make the most of your life, so you can see where the link is here.

So how can a coach help you reduce stress? 

1. Working with a coach can help you take back control

The coaching relationship creates an environment, that allows you to take stock of what’s happening to you and allows you, to come up with ways to reclaim your sense of calm.

2. Coaching is a safe space for you to explore your thoughts – from triggers to options 

Effective stress management begins with finding out exactly what the source of our stress is and find ways to diminish the source or better ways to cope.

Coaching is a safe space where you’re encouraged to explore different the reasons behind your stress and focus on how you wish to feel instead. By increasing your self-awareness and practicing some new techniques, (for example, goal setting, addressing limiting beliefs etc.) you can forge new neurological pathways in your brain, that will lead to new responses when those stress triggers arrive.

3. Find the best way forward for you 

Coaching is a tailor-made approach because we are all different. We all have our own way of recognising and dealing with stress. A coach will help you figure out the right approach for you.

4. Create long-term change 

Although you will see fast changes within 2-3 coaching sessions, the magic of coaching lies in its long-term effects. As the saying goes, once seen cannot be unseen, and the same applies to self-awareness.

Once you become fully aware of a behaviour or habit, you will start creating new habits and healthy behavioural patterns and will not want to go back to the old ways. Not to say this is an easy journey – there will be setbacks and your old habits will resurface again. But this time you will be aware of them. Slowly but surely, this will lead to healthy coping habits.

If you are experiencing chronic stress or your stress is accompanied by other mental health challenges, coaching might not be the best path for you.

And if you have experienced coaching, let us know – has coaching helped reduce stress in your life?

Looking to learn more about helping others and transforming lives with life coaching?

If you are drawn to helping others or people often come to you to for guidance, you might have it in you to become a Professional coach yourself.

Request a Free Info Pack Online and we will send you information of how to become a Life Coach.

When I am coaching, I like to take my clients backwards and then forwards to their future. I invite them to enter a virtual time machine: my coaching ‘Tardis’ if you like – and I first invite them to seize the controls and take it back 10 years.

And then I ask them, “How would you have introduced yourself ten years ago? What are you doing? Where are you living?’ What do you want for yourself ten years on? How would you describe your life looking forwards 10 years?” And then I bring them back to the present moment.

This useful first step helps people to see the difference between their aspirations and their reality. They are able to reconnect with their ideals and their ambitions; and to reflect on where their choices have led them. Then I invite them to travel forwards, to 10 years into the future. I ask: ‘What is your life like? Where are you living? How do things look? Who are you associating with? Do you own any properties? What car do you drive? Is there anything that you would like to do in the next 10 years? Anything you would like to be? Anything you would like to have?’ For some people, the aims will be value-driven and idealistic; for others, material gain will be important; and others will be planning to have children and build a family. There are no right or wrong answers – this is simply a powerful way to get people to think about and really focus on what they would want in the future.

To achieve anything in life you need adopt the right behaviours. Everything we Think affects what we Say and what we Do. Everything we Do will depend on who we truly want to Be. By adjusting our thinking so that we are living as if our future is happening NOW, we will adjust the decisions that we make on a daily basis – and are much more likely to make that goal a reality. I always say that if you get the Do and the Be right, the Have should follow.

As Steven Covey says, ‘Begin with the end in mind’.

TIME TRAVELLER’S TIPS FOR SETTING YOUR GOALS FROM THE FUTURE:  

1. Be clear, clarity is the key to success. Know what you want and why you want it. 

Many goals are not achieved because they are too vague. ‘I want to go on holiday next year’ is unlikely to become a reality. Other questions need to be asked to gain clarity: Where? With whom? To do what? For how much? When? Africa? Great. But where in Africa? An adventure holiday? Sounds lovely – but what kind of adventure? If you get stuck – get some advice. Talk to people. In the case of a holiday it could be advice from a travel guide, a web page or a travel agent; in the case of a business start-up it may mean joining Business Link or speaking to others in the same industry as you. Once you know why and where you are going, then you can take the actions necessary to get you there.

2. Dream big, reach for the moon. If you don’t reach the moon, at least you may land among the stars!

Dreams will only become reality if you take steps to turn them into practical actions. Taking action takes time and planning, and it takes no more time to plan a big outcome than a small one. So, when you are mapping your vision – take it as wide and broad as you can imagine it to be. See how large your comfort zone is at present and where it might extend to in the future. Decide where you are aiming for now, but keep your future possibilities in view too. Thinking back to that African adventure: you might begin with a package tour to the Gambia but have in mind a train ride across the whole continent. Anything is possible if you begin to live as if your future is happening now.

3. Create a vision board with everything that represents your end goal, pictures, power words and phrases. 

The mind is stimulated by all our senses. Images, words, sounds, flavours, touch – all of these will reinforce the messages we send to our brain. Africa becomes more tangible if you start to surround yourself with images, music, foods, patterns and fabrics from the region. A business dream will become more of a reality if you begin to read business magazines, watch business programmes, put images of the material goals that you want to achieve on your wall, have your business plan on your wall – and so on. Whatever your personal dream or vision – surround yourself with whatever inspires you to achieve it. Change it over time so that it is always current and reflecting the true nature of your ambitions. As the saying goes: ‘Be careful what you wish for – you might just get it!’

Vision Boards can be in any format that appeals to you.  Examples:

4. Imagine you are being interviewed for a TV show or magazine after you have achieved your goal.The interviewer asks you, how you did it. What attitudes and behaviours contributed to your success? 

Each of us is a ‘self’ expert. We know our strengths and our weaknesses. It can be helpful to do a stock check of skills to see what is driving you forward and what is holding you back. Are your fears getting in your way? Face them head on and if necessary get some professional advice or training in that areas. You will be surprised at how quickly the getting of experience can make fears a thing of the past.  My friend and mentor Peter Thomson once asked me the following questions, why not ask yourself right now…. What do you need to START doing? Take action? Set achievable goals? Monitor your progress? Seek advice? Get a makeover? Get a mentor?  What do you need to STOP doing? Procrastinating? Living in the past? Having regrets? Blaming others? Putting yourself down?  What do you need to do LESS of? Spending? Watching TV? Eating junk food? Putting everyone else’s needs ahead of your own?  What do you need to do MORE of? Networking? Socialising? Saving money? Planning? Taking action?

5. Identify who can help you and who you may need to avoid 

People are more willing to help others to achieve their goals than you may imagine. If you know someone who has the skills to help you – approach them and ask them for their advice. Find a mentor, who can help you in an objective way, and will shortcut your route to success. Identifying who you need to avoid can be one of the trickier ones. Are there people close to you who undermine your ambitions? Who are happy to have you stay the way you are because a change would threaten their status quo? At the end of the day, the only person who knows what is right for you – is you. Others will catch up with you eventually if they care about you. Be brave, follow your dreams and start living today as if they are already a reality.

Now, step back inside that time machine and think back from the future to the first thing you did that set you on the right track towards your goal. What was it? Be very clear and precise about it and see yourself doing it.

Begin it now and take the first step into a future you can be proud of!

NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) helps communicators to work
well with others and to develop themselves. To use NLP to recognize the small changes that produce significantly better results.

KNOWING THE KEY SKILLS
The critical factor for maximizing professional performance is improving how you manage yourself and your working relationships with others.
Recognize that this is something you can learn and that NLP shows you how to develop the necessary skills.

IDENTIFYING SUCCESS
Technical skills and IQ account for about 15 per cent of top-level performance, whereas 85 per cent of professional success is due to
emotional intelligence.

UNDERSTANDING
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

There are two factors of emotional intelligence that determine your performance
as a communicator. The first is your ability to handle situations in an effective manner. Top performers use their emotions as a guide to
improving what they do.

The second is your ability to be sensitive to others and knowing how to make a difference to the performance
of others.

Understand that
emotional
intelligence can
transform your
performance and
career.

The field of NLP is a “tool kit” of skills used by communicators to emotional intelligence skills and improve performance.   

NLP skills focus on the way you think about what you are doing that already works, what you are doing that does not work, and what you
need to do differently.

Change what you think, feel, and believe, andyou will dramatically alter the results you get. With repeat practice,
these skills become automatic and lead to a continuous improvement in performance.

USING NLP
Many people think that emotional intelligence is a natural skill that you either do or do not have.

It is, in fact, a set of skills that you can learn. Use NLP techniques to help you identify and focus on areas of
your performance that you need to improve. Then, explore what to do differently, so that you can begin to improve the results you achieve.
This is the first step in developing your emotional intelligence.

USING MENTAL REHEARSAL TO IMPROVE YOUR PERFORMANCE
Through using the NLP skill of mental rehearsal, you could improve your performance considerably.

Questions to ask yourself.

Q. What areas of my performance and I satisfied with?
Q. What aspects of my performance do I
want to improve?
Q. Do I know what I need to do to improve
my skills?
Q. What is the first action step I need to
take to improve my results?

FOCUSING ON PROCESS
NLP skills are also used for problem solving. NLP looks at the content of issues or communications, while also looking at their
structures or processes.

For instance, it is not what someone says, but how they say it that tells you how to respond. The words spoken
are the “content” of a conversation, whereas the “process” of communication is far broader.

It includes all of the non-verbal messages. For instance, “That’s great!” can mean opposite things
depending on the context and how it is said. Learn to be flexible in your approach and assumptions.

BOOSTING CONFIDENCE

Top-level performance requires high levels of confidence, especially in demanding circumstances.

Take responsibility for how you feel and, when you need to boost your morale, use NLP techniques to develop the
skill of maintaining confidence.

AVOIDING BLAME

In any specific task, your abilities are related to confidence and competence. Your level of competence is often not a
problem, but people lose confidence when things go wrong and then competence can fall.

Your reaction may be to blame yourself or others. Realize that blaming others lowers their confidence and also
damages your relationship with them.

Instead, think what you could more usefully say.

Then, notice how the| confidence level of yourself and others improves. Realize that you can easily learn to build your self-confidence.
Avoid blaming yourself for problems, since this lowers your self-confidence.

SEEING YOUR ACHIEVEMENT

Thinking about potential problems is only useful if you imagine how best to deal with them.

The difference between a confident and a non-confident person is their ability to imagine performing tasks well.

The better you are at imagining your own successes, the better your self-image and the
higher your level of self-confidence.

Keep imagining your own successes until they feel “true”.

Click on Link below to view more detail.
A look at One ICF

ICF CEO Magdalena Nowicka Mook spoke with Coaching World about the new brand and what it means for the future of ICF and the coaching profession.
“It is quite exciting to launch the refreshed brand for ICF. The impetus for this has been the transformation of our organization at the beginning of 2020 as we introduced “One ICF” and six family organizations. This specifically responds to the needs of the growing coaching marketplace. So in order for ICF to truly be able to deliver on its vision and mission of coaching becoming an integral part of a thriving society, we needed to reinvent ourselves to stay true to that mission.
The brand is simply an extension of that thinking and a better illustration of how all stakeholders in our sphere can relate and be a part of One ICF.”

Inside ICF Thought Leadership Institute
ICF Thought Leadership Institute Vice President Alicia Hullinger, Ph.D., spoke with Coaching World about the new organization and the future of coaching.
“Our vision is really to be a global hub for human development that shows how coaching contributes to the United Nations Action Plan for Peace, Prosperity, People, Planet and Partnership. This vision is grounded in the UN’s action plan framework, and we want to lead the way in how coaching contributes to societal well-being and sustainability. So, over the past year, we’ve grounded our mission in something that’s big and something that’s looking to the future because that’s what we’re about. ”

Inside ICF Coaching in Organizations
ICF Coaching in Organizations Vice President Renée Robertson, PCC, SCP, spoke with Coaching World about the new membership organization, and the history and future of internal coaching.
“Let’s start with the definition of culture – the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a social group or in this context, an organization. Now take ICF’s definition of coaching – ‘partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.’ Then, when you think of how the two overlap, you can see how coaching becomes an integral part of shaping an organization’s culture – it becomes a facilitator or an accelerant. In essence, coaching can be a catalyst to developing new ways of thinking, behaving, and ultimately driving performance and results.”

Inside the ICF Foundation
ICF Foundation Vice President Coura Badiane, MBA, CAE, spoke with Coaching World about the new brand and what it means for societal progress.
“The ICF Foundation is the nonprofit, philanthropic piece of the ICF ecosystem. Our main philosophy is that social system change is accelerated and amplified by professional coaching—that’s our guiding light…Our mission is to promote the potential social impact that coaching can have at the individual and the organizational level. ”

Inside ICF Coach Training
ICF Coach Training Vice President Luke Davis, M.Ed., spoke with Coaching World about how the new brand amplifies the work of accredited coach training providers and leveraging each ICF organization’s work to impact the world.
“It’s about having this ecosystem with all these parts, but that then comes together in this perfect unison of leveraging each other’s strengths; creating economies of scale; and creating collaborative partnerships to be able to engage and talk about what the future looks like, what the current world of coach training or professional coaches or coaching in organizations looks like and how can we utilize each other to talk about that vision and mission, about what we want to accomplish.”

Inside ICF Professional Coaches
Former ICF Professional Coaches Vice President Ann Rindone, ACC, spoke with Coaching World about empowerment, innovation and putting the success of ICF Coaches first.
“I think the big word here for us is bold. For the last 25 years ICF has been about giving coaches who change the world the tools they need to change it. Now, through ICF Professional Coaches, our new emboldened purpose is to empower coaches to achieve their ultimate goal. We have greater focus on helping you grow your clients and your business so that you can go change the world.”

Inside ICF Credentials and Standards
ICF Credentials and Standards Vice President Carrie Abner spoke with Coaching World about what the new brand means for current and future ICF Credential-holders—and their coaching clients.
“In short, our mission and our goal is to elevate the ICF Credential as the global gold standard, known and respected as the highest standard of practice, based on rigorous research and empirical evidence, while delivered with elegant simplicity and a human touch. In doing so, we really provide an important quality assurance to coaching clients, and we empower ICF Credential-holders to shine. That’s something that we have done for a quarter of a century and we look forward to continuing to do in the years to come under our new structure as ICF Credentials and Standards.”

A few purists of the facilitation and coaching fields adamantly declared that the professions cannot be more different and should not be confused. The purists from the respective fields can define their role as a coach or a facilitator, but I didn’t really get a clear differentiation between the two fields, because frankly there are not that many facilitators who are also trained as coaches, and vice versa.

The blending of coaching and facilitation techniques and that they can complement each other.

There are of course differences between coaching and facilitation:

Coaching is typically offered to individuals, couples or very small groups (I’d say no more than 4 or 5),
Facilitation is typically intended for groups, teams, task forces or organizations; group sizes can vary from 5 to a few hundreds,
Coaching is focused on an individual’s own issues, past, present and future,
Facilitation is focused on the group’s purpose and issues, past, present and future,
Coaching services can last over a period of time for an individual, usually by in-person meetings or phone calls/video calls,
Facilitation services are typically project or issue based, usually done through in-person or vitural meetings or workshops,
Coaching clients can be served in-person, by telephone or other virtual mechanism such as Skype/Zoom/Whatsapp etc,
Facilitation clients are most typically served in a face-to-face environment, and increasingly virtual facilitation services are being requested in order to reduce travel costs.
There are many similarities in the fields of coaching and facilitation:
Both fields presume the client(s) / participant(s) are creative, resourceful and whole such that they can find their own solutions,
Both use various ways to draw or pull information out of the participant(s) / client(s),
Both use similar fundamental methods and skills such as Appreciative Inquiry, setting a safe environment and relationship guidelines, and asking good questions, although they may not call them the same names,
Both coach and facilitator need to be neutral without taking sides on issues,
Both expect the professional coach or facilitator to be flexible and adaptable in using different techniques or methods to meet the client’s needs,
Both require the professional coach or facilitator to actively listen to the client, to what is being said and sometimes, more importantly, what is not being said, and
Both help the client to dig deep to discover their own strengths, possibilities, change capacity and/or solutions, and to move the client forward in their personal or group journey.

What may be one big difference is spending a lot more time scoping, planning and designing a meeting or workshop prior to facilitating one; while being a coach, the degree of design and preparation is a lot more spontaneous and responsive to the client’s input or feedback at the moment. Both, being a coach and a facilitator, require me to be flexible, listening attentively, checking assumptions and adapting to changing priorities by dancing in the moment.

What about mentors? Who are mentors?

Being a mentor is to be a wise and trusted counselor for someone; may also act as a guide, a teacher, a supporter and an encouraging influencer to the mentee. Being a mentor does not necessarily require one to be neutral, nor does it require the mentor to be quiet about his opinions. However, one’s opinions can often cloud the creativity and collaboration, and opinions are often only partial views.

A mentor and mentee relationship can be established formally or informally. An elder that is more experienced, knowledgeable and wise can provide sage advice in a formal capacity, this respected position is evident in a number of cultures. More often than not, a trusted friend or colleague may act as a mentor unofficially, or even unknowingly.

Surrounding yourself with as many positive models as possible. We like to think that we have many mentors, from whom we can learn a lot and can share a lot authentically, transparently and honestly.

So, are you a coach, a facilitator or a mentor? Or are you two or all of the above?

How To Become A Life Coach
To become a coach requires Recognised training, quality education, and a natural empathy. Empathy is not something that can be trained or taught easily!!

You should take a course to be able to certify and train others. The course you choose is the most crucial part of the process. Ensure it is recognised by a training/governing body and always look to the International Coach Federation (ICF) for their list of Accredited training organisations and look into the level of accreditation held.

Some training teaches you how to lead entire workshops for others within larger businesses.

Some certify you to teach others to speak in public.

Some teach you how to coach others to increase their sales.

However, many coaches start their careers offering a facilitation service to guide and hold their clients accountable for the goals they want to achieve or obstacles they want to overcome.

Folks that get into life coaching in this manner tend to have completed successful careers or want to add to their current position or create a lucrative, flexible secure income.

Coaches consultants don’t have patients – they have clients.

Coaches usually don’t try finding the reason for problems with success. Instead, they are people who think forward and aid people planning their future. We like to say Coaches are positive forward thinking goal orientated people.

10 Qualities Of A Great Life Coach

1. Maintain a Positive Attitude

Your positive attitude needs to be inspiring to inspire your clients by your belief in them.

2. Be Passionate

Be passionate and empathetic with a desire for helping others – this trait allows you to understand your client’s emotions and barriers to success.

3. Have Great Listening Skills

Listening to clients is what life coaching is all about. Understanding subtle tells and messages help in understanding your client’s issues

4. Be Non-Opinionated

As a coach, your job is not to give clients advice, it is to facilitate client’s finding solutions to barriers to success in their career or personal life.

5. No Judgement

The world is filled with people who hold different opinions that you don’t agree with. But, in their view of the world, these opinions might be accurate.

6. Cultivate Curiosity

Curiosity fosters your ability to ask questions of your clients that help them understand their own feelings and how they impact their success. It encourages answering difficult questions and having those “light bulb” moments

7. Be challenging

The very best coaches challenge their clients so they gain a deeper understanding of their issues. A coach challenges clients in a way that causes them to face the reality surrounding them with clarity, focus, and honesty.

8. Be Observant

Great coaches learn much by observing clients and sort out the subtlest signs of worry, uncertainty, and trepidation. This doesnt need to be done in person either, video coaching sessions give you the same opportunity.

9. Communicate With Clarity

To be an excellent coach it is vital that you communicate well on many levels such as body language, vocabulary and more.

10. Stay Honest

Preserve your integrity. Your coaching relationship with clients depends on trust.